


Making a New Normal

by rowx3yourships



Series: Four Families, Food Fights, and a Firetruck [5]
Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: (as if that wasn't evident with the families setup), (it happens outside the story), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Child Huang Ren Jun, Child Jung Sungchan, Child Kim Jungwoo (NCT), Child Lee Jeno, Child Osaki Shotaro, Child Park Jisung (NCT), Child Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, Child Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun, Family Feels, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M, Minor Character Death, Multi, Parent Dong Si Cheng | WinWin, Parent Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung, Parent Lee Taeyong, Parent Moon Taeil, Parent Nakamoto Yuta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:48:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27039715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowx3yourships/pseuds/rowx3yourships
Summary: “There was an accident. Miyako and Ryuji are dead.” Taeil felt his heart stop for a moment. He knew how close Yuta was with his cousin and her husband. “Shotaro has no one else. I-” Yuta glanced down and Taeil hated seeing the worry and nerves on his face. “I want to adopt him. He’s the same age as Renjun. The boys aren’t very close, but family gatherings haven’t been frequent enough. The only other option is my aunt, and she’s too old, and I-”~*~“The orphanage he’s in, it’s-” Taeyong sighed and shook his head. “It’s bad. I wasn’t there long but I don’t like it. And the people running it, they obviously don’t like children, which is just ridiculous for anyone working at a place where children are supposed to live and grow up. I hated seeing Sungchan almost wither up when he had to go back. Doyoung, I-”Doyoung raised an eyebrow at his husband, having a pretty strong idea where the conversation was going. “You realise we already have four boys, right?” His fingers reached and started absently playing with the pencil he had been using before Taeyong had walked in.~*~or two families find themselves growing unexpectedly and making a new kind of normal
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Moon Taeil/Nakamoto Yuta, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Lee Taeyong, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Four Families, Food Fights, and a Firetruck [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1881748
Comments: 22
Kudos: 175





	1. Shotaro - One

**Author's Note:**

> so i debated on adding the new kids to the au and such and honestly they're already so precious that i had to add them (plus i had a tiny part of the sungchan chapter that popped into my head and refused to go away - so i had to write it) ... 
> 
> but anyways - i hope you enjoy!
> 
> and be sure to continue to support all the members of nct 2020 including our two new boys - Shotaro and Sungchan! :)

Taeil walked into the house, exhausted from the busy pre-finals crunch. After taking off his shoes and dropping his keys into the bowl that Renjun had made at art camp a few years ago, he walked farther into the house and frowned slightly. Normally when there wasn’t any sports game or such Yuta would be cooking dinner, especially as late as it was. He hadn’t seen Sicheng’s car in the garage, so Taeil assumed that he was either still busy with work or picking up one or both of the boys. He quickly dropped his bag in the office before heading to the kitchen. 

“Yuta? Are you-” Taeil’s voice stopped at the sight of his partner sitting at the island in the kitchen, his head in his hands. He quickly walked over, stopping just before reaching out, just in case. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

When Yuta glanced up at Taeil, his heart dropped. It was obvious that he had been crying and without thinking about it, Taeil wrapped his arms around him. He felt Yuta shaking slightly before wrapping his arms around him in return. Taeil didn’t know what had happened, but he knew it had to be bad for it to have upset Yuta this much. He didn’t push for an explanation, but he wanted to know what had happened. Instead he just rubbed a hand over Yuta’s back, humming softly. 

The sound of the front door opening made Taeil turn his head, hearing Xuxi talking loudly in Mandarin only to be interrupted by Renjun. While he didn’t completely understand what they were saying, from their tones it seemed to just be their normal teasing. When they were passing by the kitchen, Taeil wasn’t sure if it was the lack of food cooking smell that caught Xuxi’s attention or the tenseness that seemed to be almost tangible in the silence that stopped Renjun, but both boys turned and walked in. 

Before either of them could say anything, Sicheng stepped around them, gently pushing them back out of the room. “Go put your things in your room. You can fight it out in the living room over who gets to pick where we get takeout from tonight when you’re done.”

Taeil watched the two boys turn to head upstairs as Sicheng walked over, moving to the other side of Yuta and sitting on the stool beside him. He felt Yuta take a shaky breath before shifting back to sit up again, scrubbing his hands over his face. 

“There was an accident. Miyako and Ryuji are dead.” Taeil felt his heart stop for a moment. He knew how close Yuta was with his cousin and her husband. Even if the families haven’t been able to get together that often because of busy lives and living in different countries, Yuta still tried to at least email or text with Miyako, and they exchanged gifts for the kids at holidays and birthdays. “Shotaro has no one else. I-” Yuta glanced down and Taeil hated seeing the worry and nerves on his face. “I want to adopt him. He’s the same age as Renjun. The boys aren’t very close, but family gatherings haven’t been frequent enough. The only other option is my aunt, and she’s too old, and I-”

“Of course. We can tell the boys and see what they say, but you know they will agree.” Sicheng’s voice was soft and he reached to take one of Yuta’s hands in his. 

Taeil cleared his throat, still a bit in shock. “Of course we’ll take him in. I can ask Kun for the information for the lawyer they used when they adopted Yangyang and had to go through all the extra legal processes and such. Or we can talk to Taeyong and Doyoung about who they worked with when they adopted Dejun. We’ll figure it all out.”

_“Otousan?”_ Renjun’s voice was soft from the doorway and all three adults turned to see both boys with matching worried expressions. 

Yuta sighed and waved the two over, Taeil stepping back slightly behind him to make room for the kids. Renjun almost instantly wrapped his arms around Yuta and Taeil felt Xuxi take his own hand nervously. “I received some bad news. You guys remember my cousin Miyako?” At the nods from both of the kids, Yuta continued, his exhaustion evident in his voice. “There was an accident. Miyako and Ryuji both died.” The gasp from Xuxi made Taeil gently squeeze his hand in comfort. “I-We want to adopt Shotaro. He’s alone and-”

“Of course! Do we need to figure out who’s sharing rooms? Does this mean we are going to pick him up?” Xuxi’s words tumbled out and Taeil smiled slightly at how quickly and positively he was reacting. He was so proud that Xuxi was so warm and quick to help.

Renjun pulled back, shifting to lean back against the island. “When is he coming? We can get the others to help rearrange things too. Or if he needs anything. Hyuck has plenty of stuff he doesn’t need.”

A small laugh escaped from Yuta, and Taeil was again so thankful for the boys and both of their unique personalities and ways of helping. “I’m not sure about any of the details. I’m going to fly over for the funerals and such, then hopefully he can come back with me and we’ll work on getting everything settled from then.”

Sicheng leaned closer to Yuta, resting his chin on Yuta’s shoulder. “I’ll go with you. I can get out of work easily. You shouldn’t be alone for this.” Taeil nodded in agreement, wishing he wasn’t so busy with his own job. “Taeil can handle the boys for a week or so? Or just ship them off to any of the others?” 

Taeil could see some of the tension leaving Yuta and he hoped that everything would work out for them. But for now, he would be happy to bring some of the smile back to Yuta’s face. “I can handle them perfectly fine. I’m older than both of you, so that makes me more responsible.”

Renjun’s laugh made Taeil glance over. “If age equals responsibility, what happened with Xuxi?”

A slightly offended noise came from their oldest and the others let out a bit of a laugh. Taeil glanced out of the corner of his eye towards Yuta and Sicheng. Yuta seemed to be relaxing slightly, and Sicheng was being almost uncharacteristically overly affectionate, while normally he wasn’t as open about showing his feelings through physical touch, he was now curled around Yuta.

“Okay, so do you two know where you want us to get takeout from tonight?” 

Taeil grinned at the two boys who both started talking over each other, arguing and debating on food. Their chaos was loud, but it was a familiar sound. Things would settle back into a normal state again soon. Or at least a new form of normal, if everything worked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ i don't own any of the members mentioned / referenced - this is just fiction ... minor side characters / such are made up with no real counterparts / significance ]
> 
> how is everyone liking the nct 2020 album?! ... I LOVE IT!!! - seriously there's no bad song(s) on it ... and the two new members fit in so well ... and i love the different lineups for all the songs too ... what's your favorites? ... mine are probably "Light Bulb" / "Dancing in the Rain" / "From Home" - but i love them all, it's such a good album overall
> 
> let me know what you thought of the story ... hopefully you enjoyed ... I love hearing your thoughts and such - they seriously make my day / week! :)
> 
> as always (because this world is an extra crazy place right now) - stay safe and healthy :)


	2. Sungchan - One

Doyoung took his glasses off and ran a hand over his face, the numbers starting to blur. He hated doing paperwork and finances and all of the managerial parts of his job, but he would never regret being able to have his own bakery. Luckily Tuesdays were less busy so he could take some time to work on everything without having to worry about customers or helping the few employees he had or anything. Minhyuk was working with him today, so he knew he could focus on the more tedious and detailed paperwork, as he had been working with Doyoung almost the entire time he had owned the bakery. 

The door to the backroom opened and Doyoung glanced up to see Taeyong and Jungwoo walking in and Doyoung blinked before looking at the clock on his tablet. He hadn’t realised it was already that late.

“I’m going to go convince Minhyuk to teach me how to do the fancy decorations in the drinks, if that’s okay?” Jungwoo had walked over and put away his bookbag in one of the cubbies in the backroom before moving to give Doyoung a half hug. 

Doyoung nodded with a smile. “Okay, just don’t try to keep him past his shift again today. Bin is coming in to work tonight and Minhyuk said he had a date tonight.” He chuckled softly at the look on Jungwoo’s face before he practically skipped back out front. 

While Jungwoo didn’t officially work at the bakery, he would always offer to come help out, even if there was not a desperate need. All of the kids have said they liked spending time here with him, but Jungwoo seemed to take an extra interest in it. And as busy as all the kids were with their schoolwork and their extracurriculars, Doyoung felt it even more special how much time Jungwoo spent here.

Taeyong walked over and sat in the chair beside Doyoung and glanced over at the spread of paperwork on the table. “Monthly reports?” Doyoung just hummed in answer as Taeyong kissed his cheek. “Do you have time for a break? Your eyes probably need it. I’m sure you’ve been staring at those papers for hours now.”

Doyoung let out a small laugh and nodded, dropping the pencil to the table and turned to face him. “I don’t know about hours-”

“Then I can go ask Minhyuk?” Taeyong’s grin made Doyoung sigh, rolling his eyes with a smile.

“Okay, it’s been a while. What time do you need to pick up the others?” 

Thankfully Taeyong’s job allowed him a lot of freedom and time to be around for the kids, while Doyoung spent almost all his time at the bakery. Although lately, both of them had been busy, with Taeyong having a big project going on, and they had to rely on their friends a lot more.

“Johnny is picking up Jeno from practice with Mark because he’s having a sleepover with them. Dejun has an extra lesson with Taeil today, so he said he would drop him off here or at home when office hours finish for him. Sicheng drove him to the campus after school when he picked up Renjun. Sungie has a history group project at the library until six, he said he would call if they finish early.” 

Doyoung nodded along, making a mental note about who to thank for helping out. “And how did the first day of Woo’s mentoring program seem to go? He seemed in a good mood, so hopefully that’s a sign?”

“He was excited about it and he really hit it off with the kid he’s paired with. His name is Sungchan and he’s a year between Jeno and Sungie. Although from what I saw, Sungchan is similar to Woo, so that should help.” Doyoung noticed something in Taeyong’s voice and waited for him to continue with what was bothering him. “The orphanage he’s in, it’s-” Taeyong sighed and shook his head. “It’s bad. I wasn’t there long but I don’t like it. And the people running it, they obviously don’t like children, which is just ridiculous for anyone working at a place where children are supposed to live and grow up. I hated seeing Sungchan almost wither up when he had to go back. Doyoung, I-”

Doyoung raised an eyebrow at his husband, having a pretty strong idea where the conversation was going. “You realise we already have four boys, right?” His fingers reached and started absently playing with the pencil he had been using before Taeyong had walked into the small corner of the backroom he used as an office.

“Of course I do. But you have to meet him. I promise, you’ll fall in love with him too. Woo already loves him too.”

“Jungwoo is in on this? Please tell me you didn’t say anything to him yet.” Doyoung blinked at the mention of their oldest already being involved. “Tae, I love you, but are you sure about this? Can we make it work? I would hate myself if we couldn’t manage things. Or if we had to make the other boys sacrifice things they love.”

Taeyong moved to stand behind him, gently pressing his hands to Doyoung’s shoulders massaging lightly. “I think we can. Besides, you said the other day that things have been doing really good here and were thinking of other things to do with the shop. Dejun had the open mic night suggestion, and Woo likes helping out here as well. And you know the others would help too.”

Doyoung dropped the pencil and rubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it. It’s a big decision. I’m not refusing outright. But I will have to think and figure some things.” He sighed and shook his head with a small laugh. “How crazy are we for adopting five kids? And I don’t know the full history for Sungchan, but the others haven’t come from the best situations.”

“I love you. And if having five amazing sons makes us crazy, then I guess we should be locked away.”

Laughing again, Doyoung leaned back in the chair, tilting his head to rest back on Taeyong’s chest. “I never would have imagined my life like this. But I don’t regret any of it.” He looked up at Taeyong with a smile. “Especially convincing you to marry me.”

Taeyong’s laugh was loud and Doyoung smiled at the sound. They had both been busy lately with their jobs and hadn’t been able to spend much time together aside from sleeping. He honestly missed just spending time with him, even if it was doing nothing special. He took one of Taeyong’s hands from his shoulders and gently kissed the back of it before sighing. 

“Have I said before how much I hate doing all this paperwork?” Doyoung turned his attention back to the paperwork in front of him with a frown, ignoring the laugh from Taeyong. He just needed to finish these papers up and then he could take a break. Bin would be coming in to cover the shop, and with Jungwoo helping that would be enough for him to actually spend a little time with Taeyong, hopefully.

He glanced up to see Bin walking into the back room before smiling and bowing his head slightly to Taeyong. “Hello, sir.”

Doyoung tried to hide the slight chuckle at the expression on Taeyong’s face. “Please don’t call me sir. Taeyong is fine. Otherwise I feel old.”

“If the shoe fits-” Minhyuk’s voice was teasing and Doyoung couldn’t keep from laughing, especially when Minhyuk winked in their direction. “Okay, it’s time for me to leave. Binnie is here, and Woo is out there as well.” Minhyuk swapped out his apron and such before grabbing his bag from his cubby and turning back to Doyoung and waving as he walked out the back door. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a hot date to get ready for.”

“As if his wife cares how he looks. They’ve been together longer than we have.” Doyoung shook his head with a laugh before standing and stretching. He felt a few joints popping from having been sitting in the same position for too long. “I should go check the inventory out front.”

Taeyong’s phone rang and they both smiled at the ringtone. “I guess I should pick up Sungie then.” He leaned in for a quick kiss before standing and heading out the front of the bakery after answering the call.

“Appa?”

Doyoung frowned at Jungwoo’s call before taking a breath and walking back out into the front. Although luckily it was just to say that Taeil was dropping off Dejun. Doyoung walked over and smiled at Taeil. “Thank you. Hopefully it wasn’t too much trouble?”

Taeil shook his head, waving him off. “Dejun is never trouble. And I think I might surprise the boys with something for dessert anyways. What do you recommend today?”

“The pie! Minhyuk said that Appa had one just come out of the oven before I came.” Jungwoo jumped in with a smile, causing both Doyoung and Taeil to laugh. 

“Pie sounds good. How much is it?” Taeil reached for his wallet and Doyoung shook his head.

“No, you and Sicheng both helped us out today. Use the money to stop and get ice cream to go with it.” Doyoung smiled, taking the boxed pie from Bin. “Here. And let us know if you need anything. Taeyong’s project is supposed to be wrapping up this week so he’ll be more free.”

“I know how hard it is when stressful work loads seem to synch up, so don’t worry about it. You have twice as many kids and one less partner, so you have to be exhausted.” Taeil smiled with a wave heading back to the door. “Good night, let us know if you need anything else.”

Doyoung nodded with a small sigh. While he was adept at the normal shuffling of time and attention for the kids, how much more would another child add?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i hope you're enjoying this :) 
> 
> i had originally planned on probably only doing one chapter for each of the new kids, but well, things got out of hand (no surprise there) and here we are with yet another multichaptered rambling fic
> 
> i will admit i'm still getting a feel for the new kids - hence why they haven't really appeared yet and there hasn't been that much mention of them - but they will show up ... 
> 
> also - the mv for "From Home" drops in a few hours and i am super excited - everyone should support the boys (and continue with "Make a Wish (Birthday Song)" support)
> 
> and a little fun random tidbit - them having a comeback with a birthday song during October amused me ... because yup, i was born in October ... so a (slightly belated) birthday present for me from them heh
> 
> i hope you're all taking care of yourselves - let me know what you think (of the chapter / the boys' album or mv's / the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow / etc) 😄


	3. Shotaro - Two

Sicheng had stayed up with Taeil the night they got the news, planning and booking tickets and packing. They had both made Yuta try to actually sleep. And as underhanded as it might have been, they pulled the boys into it as well. Between Xuxi’s puppy eyes and Renjun’s pout, it hadn’t been too hard to convince Yuta to go to bed and let them sleep with him. 

Their flight was first thing in the morning and Sicheng had managed to crawl into bed for a few hours of sleep himself, letting the warmth and comfort of his boys help him drift off. The alarm had gone off too soon after, it felt. After untangling himself from Xuxi, who had turned in his sleep to wrap around him instead of Yuta, Sicheng went down to the kitchen and started some coffee and decided to just have a tiny breakfast, as he wasn’t hungry and he had a feeling Yuta wouldn’t be able to stomach much either.

There was a shuffling noise from the stairs and Sicheng turned to smile softly at Renjun. “ _Otousan_ is still asleep. Xuxi has him in an octopus hug.” Sicheng nodded before raising an eyebrow and motioning with an arm, smiling softly to himself as Renjun moved to curl against him in a hug. When he was half asleep, Renjun was much more affectionate and cuddly than normal, and Sicheng had a feeling he would need all the extra love he could get before the trip. They didn’t know how long the trip would take or when exactly they were flying back, but he knew that it would be a hard time for Yuta.

Sicheng heard another alarm going off from the bedroom and sighed. That would be the one Taeil had set to get everyone ready. Especially since they would have to make a detour to the airport before Taeil dropped the kids off at school and he left for campus himself. He took a breath and ran a hand through Renjun’s hair. “You should get ready for school. I don’t know if the other kids know about what happened, but your _Appa_ and I sent out a text to everyone last night. So if you need anything, just let any of them know.”

Renjun nodded, moving back to stand on his own. “I know, don’t worry. I’ll keep _Appa_ out of trouble. I’ll get Uncle Kun to help if he tries to do too much. Or Uncle Doyoung. Uncle Kun is a professor too.”

Sicheng laughed and shook his head slightly. “Of course. Or, if you want to guilt him into slowing down, ask your Uncle Johnny-”

“Ask Johnny what?” 

Sicheng and Renjun both turned to the doorway where Taeil had come downstairs. Sicheng chuckled softly at the expression on Taeil’s face before shaking his head. “To sleepover if they need to. Kun will be drowning with finals season too, and both boys are close to Johnny and Jaehyun’s.” He thought he caught sight of a faint blush on Renjun’s cheeks as he walked past out of the room to head back upstairs. That was something he would have to ask about later. 

“I don’t completely believe you, but it’s too early to argue.” Taeil moved around the kitchen, getting some coffee for himself. “Are you going to be okay?” He moved to lean his head against Sicheng’s shoulder. “I think we have everything packed except for the daily things. So there shouldn’t be anything to worry about with that.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m just worried about Yuta. And hoping things aren’t too difficult with bringing Shotaro back with us.” Sicheng sighed, glancing up at the sound of another alarm coming from their bedroom. “I’ll go make sure Xuxi is getting ready and wake Yuta up.” He reached and gave Taeil’s hand a light squeeze before turning to head up the stairs to their bedroom.

Sicheng stopped at the doorway to their bedroom, a slight frown on his face. Yuta had curled up almost into a ball under the blankets. He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, leaning over and gently brushing the hair back from Yuta’s face. “It’s time to get up. The boys are getting ready for school and I have some coffee already made for you.”

Yuta made an almost whining noise and rolled over, blinking up at Sicheng. It was obvious he had not slept very well and Sicheng wished he could just pull him back into bed and sleep for hours more. “Morning already?” Sicheng nodded and Yuta sighed before shifting to sit up. “Okay, time to go I guess.”

Sitting on the bed next to Yuta, Sicheng leaned to press a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll be with you the whole way. We’ll get through this.” 

There was the sound of shuffling from the door and Sicheng turned to see Xuxi standing there nervously shifting on his feet. “ _Otousan_ _? Appa_ said it’s almost time to go. He said he’s packing up some of the last minute things but you should probably get ready.”

Yuta turned and smiled at Xuxi. “Of course. I’m going to take a quick shower then I’ll be down.” He sighed and stood, turning towards their bathroom. 

“Go ahead, I’ll sort out the rest.” Sicheng stood and pressed a kiss to Yuta’s lips, turning to Xuxi. “Finish getting ready yourself. And don’t forget your literature report.”

“Oh, right!” Xuxi jumped and turned to rush out of the room, causing both adults to laugh softly. 

~*~

The rest of the morning seemed to be almost a blur, making sure everything was sorted for the trip and gathering the boys to get them ready for school as well. The goodbyes at the airport were forced to be short as the boys needed to get to school, and Taeil needed to get to his own lecture. After checking in and passing through security, they found their gate and settled to wait. 

Only then they found out their flight had been delayed. 

Sicheng shifted to gently take Yuta’s hand in his. Unfortunately there was nothing left but to sit in the airport until the next plane was set to depart. He could feel the tension radiating from Yuta and he wished he could do more to help. He felt Yuta lean his head against his shoulder and Sicheng gently leaned his head over on his in return. They didn’t say anything and just sat that way, silently taking comfort in each other. 

He wasn’t sure how much later it was, but their flight was called and Sicheng stood, keeping his hand in Yuta’s. “Let’s go. You should try and get at least a short nap on the flight as well.”

Yuta’s scoff held a soft fondness. “You got less sleep than me last night. Using the boys against me like that. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

The small smile made Sicheng laugh softly before leaning in to press a kiss to Yuta’s cheek. “I’m sorry. Next time I’ll send Taeil or just drag you away myself.” He smiled softly at Yuta before they went through the boarding process and settled in their seats. “I’m not tired, but you look like you haven’t slept in a week.”

“So you’re trying to say I look like shit?” Yuta’s laugh was soft and it made Sicheng smile, shrugging playfully. 

It made Sicheng feel better to see Yuta smiling and laughing, even as small as they were. Seeing Yuta serious and frowning had never been anything good in their entire relationship, and it hurt to see him like that now.

Sicheng pulled out his phone and headphones, handing one earbud to Yuta. “Here, I have a few songs to pick through for the next round. Let me know what you think.” Hopefully the music would help distract Yuta enough to relax him a bit. Although, he knew nothing would really help. Not with the chaos that had been thrown into their lives, at least not for a while. But he would do whatever he could to help make things as close to normal as he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologies to everyone who might have thought we'd get the actual introduction in this chapter ... for readers of other pieces of mine, you'll know - things tend to get away from me and stories can spiral into massive projects :) ... feel free to let me know what you think
> 
> i hope you're all being safe and taking care of yourselves


End file.
